ISLAMABAD, July 25: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has denied facilitating any “unauthorised” person in obtaining visa for European countries and claimed that only former hockey stars or relatives of players were issued letters.

Responding to a questionnaire which was given to the hockey managers by three members of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, PHF secretary Brig (Retd) Musarratullah Khan said that only five people who were genuine hockey lovers were helped and all of them had returned.

“About five persons who were brothers and relatives of PHF functionaries like Capt (Retd) Mukhtar Ali and Faiz Muhammad Faizi went abroad,” Musarrat said in reply to a question.

The names of the other three were not mentioned. The quintet went to Spain to witness the Olympic Qualifying round in March of 2004.

Mukhtar was alleged to be the key player in the visa racket and was sacked after an internal probe conducted by the PHF.

“No wilful attempt was made to secure visa for any person who was not hockey-related.... and it cannot be termed as human smuggling.”

Musarrat pointed out that “human smuggling” was not an appropriate word.

“Visas were processed by certain individuals by an individual. It was an individual act for which the services have been terminated and not an institution’s act as brought out by the inquiry committee.”

The PHF says that Mukhtar wrote letters to the embassy in the absence of Musarrat who was bed-ridden following a road accident at the start of 2004.

Ever since Mukhtar was removed from service, “extra caution is taken and the process has been centralised with stringent corrective measures,” writes Musarrat while requesting the committee that the matter now be considered closed.

Meanwhile a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports is due to be held in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the “continuous deterioration” of hockey and the visa racket.

Senators Muhammad Enver Baig and Dr Murad Ali Shah the architects of the questionairre, have asked the secretary of the standing committee to ensure the presence of Mukhtar in the forthcoming meeting.